“And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”

I have been following Tonia’s 31 Weeks to a Better Genealogy Blog challenge, and Week 9’s assignment is to participate in an online genealogy group. For this task, I remembered DEARMyrtle’s numerous posts about Second Life, an online three-dimensional world where she participates in several genealogy-related chats each week.

Sounds interesting, so here goes!

I went to the Second Life website and signed up. The usual user’s agreement, etc. Then I chose a screen name and an avatar, which is a computer-generated online Me. I originally chose a dog, then changed it to a woman. My screen name is that of my third great grandaunt, Leah Jane Kennedy, born in 1825 Sumter County, Alabama. I just love her name: Leah Jane is so pretty! Anyway, I decided Leah Jane really wasn’t a dog…

Next step was to download the Second Life Viewer, which is 3-D browsing software. Simple and quick, no garbage-ware.

I then opened the Second Life viewer and followed Leah Jane as she wandered around her new virtual world. “Todo, I don’t think we’re in Kansas (Alabama) anymore…”

I decided Leah Jane needed some new clothes, which is quite a task for a newbie. After much trial-and-error, she is decent, although still not what I really want. An 1850’s Southern belle probably didn’t wear a tie-dyed t-shirt and jeans…